Analyzing Heartland Financial USA (NASDAQ:HTLF) & Origin Bancorp (NASDAQ:OBK)

Origin Bancorp (NASDAQ:OBK) and Heartland Financial USA (NASDAQ:HTLF) are both finance companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, valuation, risk, dividends, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations and earnings.

Profitability

This table compares Origin Bancorp and Heartland Financial USA’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Origin Bancorp	12.34%	6.91%	0.77%
Heartland Financial USA	8.79%	10.81%	1.09%

Risk & Volatility

Origin Bancorp has a beta of 0.83, suggesting that its share price is 17% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Heartland Financial USA has a beta of 0.98, suggesting that its share price is 2% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings and price targets for Origin Bancorp and Heartland Financial USA, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Origin Bancorp	0	0	5	0	3.00
Heartland Financial USA	0	0	0	0	0.00

Origin Bancorp presently has a consensus target price of $42.20, suggesting a potential upside of 20.37%. Given Origin Bancorp’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities analysts clearly believe Origin Bancorp is more favorable than Heartland Financial USA.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Origin Bancorp and Heartland Financial USA”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Origin Bancorp	$358.20 million	3.05	$76.49 million	$2.44	14.37
Heartland Financial USA	$932.87 million	2.97	$79.92 million	$1.79	36.13

Heartland Financial USA has higher revenue and earnings than Origin Bancorp. Origin Bancorp is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Heartland Financial USA, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Dividends

Origin Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $0.60 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.7%. Heartland Financial USA pays an annual dividend of $1.20 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.9%. Origin Bancorp pays out 24.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Heartland Financial USA pays out 67.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

54.7% of Origin Bancorp shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 71.6% of Heartland Financial USA shares are owned by institutional investors. 6.4% of Origin Bancorp shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 1.8% of Heartland Financial USA shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

About Origin Bancorp

Origin Bancorp, Inc. operates as a bank holding company for Origin Bank that provides banking and financial services to small and medium-sized businesses, municipalities, and retail clients in Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi. It offers noninterest and interest-bearing checking accounts, savings deposits, money market accounts, and time deposits; and offers commercial real estate, construction and land development, consumer, residential real estate, commercial and industrial, mortgage warehouse, and residential mortgage loans. The company also offers personal and commercial property, and casualty insurance products; and Internet banking and voice response information, mobile applications, cash management, overdraft protection, direct deposit, safe deposit boxes, U.S. savings bonds, and automatic account transfer services; and mobile and online banking, treasury management, mortgage origination and servicing facilities, peer-to-peer electronic pay solutions, and personal financial management solutions. The company was founded in 1912 and is headquartered in Ruston, Louisiana.

About Heartland Financial USA

Heartland Financial USA, Inc., a bank holding company, provides commercial, small business, and consumer banking services to individuals and businesses in the United States. The company accepts various deposit products, including checking, demand deposit accounts, NOW accounts, savings, money market, and individual retirement; certificates of deposit; and other time deposits. It offers loans, including commercial and industrial, commercial real estate, agricultural, small business, and real estate mortgage loans; consumer loans comprising motor vehicle, home improvement, home equity line of credit, and fixed rate home equity and personal lines of credit; and credit cards for commercial, business, and personal use. In addition, the company provides business and personal online banking, and mobile banking; bill payment, remote deposit capture, and treasury management services; debit cards; automated teller machines; and automated clearing house services, wire transfers, insured cash sweeps, zero balance accounts, lockbox, image cash letter, remote deposit capture, commercial cards for travel and entertainment purchasing, merchant services to receive credit card payments, investment sweep accounts, reconciliation services, online invoice processing, foreign exchange and positive pay fraud prevention services for checks and automated clearing house services payments. Further, it offers wealth management, trust services, brokerage services, and fixed rate annuity products; and investment services, including mutual funds, individual retirement products, and education savings products. Heartland Financial USA, Inc. was founded in 1981 and is headquartered in Denver, Colorado.